Spohr and Onslow were exact contemporaries, both born in 1784, but their nonets lie a generation apart, in date and in spirit. Spohr’s work belongs to 1813 and the world of his fellow student Weber, and its elegance is well conveyed in this attractive performance. There is perhaps more sheer zest to be found in the animated finale but the Adagio is gracefully song-like, not so far removed from the Vienna of Schubert, and the opening Allegro has all the charm which Spohr himself clearly exercised over his audiences. The recording rather over-favours the bass-line but otherwise pays lucid attention to the particular tone quality of the reconstructions of period instruments which are used: the woodwind are all based on examples made between 1790 and about 1810.

Things had changed a lot by 1848, the date of George Onslow’s Nonet. Nevertheless, the instruments have a lucidity that still suits the music. Though the harmonic and melodic idiom has not advanced all that far, there is an attention to the individual sound of the instruments which almost looks forward to Mahler. Onslow, French-domiciled and with a French mother, was unusual for his time and place in his interest in chamber music, and his ear for the sounds of the instruments is subtle and delightful. His Theme and Variations are virtually variations on the sounds to be drawn from the theme, rather than the melodic possibilities, and this is attractively realised by the players. There is a touch of melancholy in his music, emphasised by the performance here even in the restless Scherzo (Agitato), but the grasp of his idiom and the sympathetic response of the players make this a most enjoyable performance.